So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Cæsar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours. ~Fortescue

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Avarice is "that love of money which makes a man an idolater."~Eph. 5:5.

"Money is a good servant, but a bad master"

"Once [avarice] dominates over me .... My spiritual faculties will live a life of dedication to the worship of my idol [money]. This will be the pursuit of my probing mind day and night. This will be my love above all other loves. My heart, created for the God of Heaven, will be full of the craving for wealth -- auri sacra fames -- and this will be my despicable god, whom I shall love with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with my whole mind, and with all my strength.... To this idol I shall sacrifice not only my own soul with its understanding, will, and affections, but the Word of God as well; yes the very Person of the Word, if avarice becomes my ruling passion." ~Fr. Escribano

"The craving for money is darkness to the soul -- Tenebræ animæ est pecuniarum cupido."~St. John Chrysostom

***-->Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.-->It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

"It is the first of all the beatitudes to which Christ solemnly promised the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven. Poverty constituted one of the most important themes of His preaching... How he anathematized the rich!... How difficult did He make it for them to enter Heaven... more difficult than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle." ~Fr. Villar